A hybrid power supply system supplying, by using a power converter connected between a plurality of power supplies and a load, power supply to the load with the plurality of power supplies being combined, has been employed.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2013-46446 (PTD 1) describes a power supply system for a vehicle in which boost choppers (power converters) provided for each of a secondary battery and an auxiliary power supply which can be charged and discharge are connected in parallel.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2013-13234 (PTD 2) describes a configuration of a power converter capable of switching between an operation mode in which DC/DC conversion is carried out while two DC power supplies are connected in series (a series connection mode) and an operation mode in which DC/DC conversion is carried out while two DC power supplies are used in parallel (a parallel connection mode) by switching a switching pattern of a plurality of power semiconductor switching elements (which are hereinafter also simply referred to as “switching elements”).